Thursday, May 6, 2010

"Round and Round the Garden": ☼ ☼ BANG

The program guide that A.C.T. gives you when you enter the theater begins like this: "The author of some 74 plays, Alan Ayckbourn is one of the most produced playwrights of all time (second only to Shakespeare)..."

We didn't know that. And with such a laudatory intro, after seeing the new A.C.T. production of "Round and Round The Garden," we'd like to ask the prized Englishman "What else ya got?"

Not that it's not clever. It is very clever. And funny, in a British drawing room kind of way. There are many plays on words (clever) and the lead character (Norman, played by Manoel Felciano) gets to act stupid, unquestionably as a send-up of British middle-class stuffiness. This apparently makes him irresistible to the three sisters, Sarah (Marcia Pizzo), Annie (Delia MacDougall) and Ruth (Rene Augesen).

Once Ruth enters the fracas, in Act Two, Ms. Augesen injects a different kind of class into the banter: this is one classy dame. Her scene on the garden chairs with Annie's suitor Tom (Dan Hiatt) is peppered with the best lines in the play and we would be excitedly awaiting the obvious conclusion if it weren't for Norman.

I mean -- he's such a drip. If Ayckbourn's point is that any fool would win the heart of these three women, he has succeeded.

Lydia Tanji's costuming stands out -- Annie lounges around in an oversized sweater in Act One but dons a marvelous yellow number in Act Two. Her suitor Tom doesn't notice, but Norman does. Sarah and Ruth wear perfect dresses which speak to their different personalities -- Ruth the business woman and Sarah the home maker.

Why did Carey Perloff decide to revive this show? The satire that was shocking in 1972 -- that a woman might have her own desires and even choose to act upon them -- is by 2010 no longer the lead story on Channel Four News. If this were Moliere we might beam with the realization that times haven't changed all that much across the centuries. But they have changed since 1972. The show is done well, the set is glorious, as always at A.C.T. and the cast is admirable. But do we care? A little?

A little, yes.

RATINGS: ☼ ☼ BANG

The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division awards "Round and Round the Garden" Two Stars with a BANGLE of PRAISE. The first star is a given at A.C.T. -- the set, costuming and lighting are their usual standout selves. Star Two is for Rene Augesen -- until she enters the show is floundering. Her humor and stage presence rescue the second act. Anthony Fusco is also very entertaining as Reg with Dishpan Hands.

The BANGLE of PRAISE is given for Alan Ayckbourn's many awards (Oliver, Tony, Moliere, Lifetime Achievement and so on). Obviously, hoards of theater goers love to see the middle classes drop their knickers.

--------------"Round and Round the Garden"A.C.T. Theater415 Geary Street, San FranciscoThrough May 23$17-$71

1 comment:

jj-aka-pp
said...

Pity. I love Ayckborn. Except for "Way Upstream" which just pissed me off. When I first saw him, I heard him compared to Neil Simon...Shakespeare? now I'm not sure about that...but he may haver written more than Will by now.

Wiah I could have been with you...for this or any of your theatre forays.

As a reviewer, I'm like everyone else: I want to see the light. I want to be lifted out of my seat and into the world of the performance. When the new 'My Fair Lady' comes along I want to rush out and tell you about it. When the show comes up short, I want to figure out why.

In San Francisco, we are blessed with world-class premiere houses, astonishingly good local companies and excellent regional theater. But theater tickets cost real money. I want you to feel a little more secure before you punch BUY.

EXPLANATION OF NEW IMPROVED RATINGS SYSTEM

Our Ratings System has been revamped! Half Stars have been eliminated. Capitalized BANGLES of PRAISE and italicized baubles of despair take their place.

BANGLES are good, and the more the merrier. A ☼ ☼ ☼ BANG BANG rating is better than a ☼ ☼ ☼ BANG rating.

baubles are bad. A ☼ ☼ ☼ baub baub rating is worse than a ☼ ☼ ☼ baub rating. A ☼ ☼ ☼ baub would drop the show below ☼ ☼ ☼, which is the coveted Julie Andrews Line. Below the Julie Andrews Line we recommend you do not spend your Do, Re or Mi.

Note that using this system, a ☼ ☼ BANG is roughly the same as a ☼ ☼ ☼ baub. Neither would be recommended.

A ☼ ☼ ☼ show must have something excellent about it, and it has to involve the story. Great acting helps, terrific staging too. But it's got to be in the writing and the actors have to bring the story alive. It can be big or small, short or long. Just don't bore us. If you do: No Julie Andrews.

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ are rare. For a show to earn this rating, it must not only be very good but it must also move us. We need to grow during those two acts plus intermission and we need to be surprised. The author must make us go "AH-HAH! THAT'S what he was getting at!" He must tell a perfect story and the actors must deliver. Uproarious, drooling laughter will always help. Deadening angst plus hopeless and depressing poverty makes it harder.

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ are practically impossible. They probably need to involve amazing music and a set you can't take your eyes off in addition to everything else that makes up a Four Star production. In Plotnik's 10 years of reviewing theater in the Bay Area, he has given ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ to only one show: Jersey Boys. And it didn't hurt that Frankie Valli was in the audience on Opening Night and tottered up onto stage to hug the actor portraying him.

We hope our NEW IMPROVED awards system adds to your enjoyments. Please contact me if you feel I have forgotten something obvious. I am in Spain, where it is raining.

Henry Higgins

BANG An especially fine moment

baub A particularly irritating moment

Something incomprehensible, where you scratch your chin and go "Waa-huhhh?"

L-R Special category for David Mamet and Sam Shepard plays. Amount of times you squirm in your seat.